Emil strub



(No Model.) I I 2 fiheets -sheet 1.

E. STRUB.

RACK RAIL FOB; MOUNTAIN RAILWAYS.

No. 600,324 Patented Mar. 8,1898.

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E. STR-UB. RACK RAIL FOR MOUNTAIN RAILWAYS.

No. 600,324. Patented Mar. 8,1898.

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UNiTn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMIL STRUB, OF ZURICH, SWVITZERLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE GESELLSOHAFT DER L.VON ROLLSOHEN EISENVVERKE IN SOLOTHURN, OF SWITZER- LAND.

RACK-RAIL FOR MOUNTAIN-RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 600,324, dated. March8, 1898.

Application filed January 21, 1897. Serial No. 620,029. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EMIL STRUB, a citizen of the Republic ofSwitzerland, residing at Zurich, in the Republic of Switzerland, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Rack-Rails forMountain-Railways, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a rack-rail for inclined planes ormountain-railways; and the object of the invention is to facilitate themanufacture and cheapen the construction of the rack-rails as comparedto those heretofore in use and also to provide a greater degree ofsafety in this class of inventions than heretofore,'together with ahigher degree of efficiency by way of durability.

The invention consists of a rack-rail having a toothed head, the teethof said head being flat at the sides of their upper portions, so as tobe parallel with the longitudinal axis of the rail, while the lowerportions of the teeth are provided with inclined sides which divergefrom the point of connection with the head of the rail upwardly to theparallel flat side portions of the teeth, while the recesses or notchesbetween the teeth are enlarged at their lower portions, said teeth beingbeveled in the usual manner adjacent to the recesses or notches.

The invention further. consists of fish-plates of L shape incross-section, said fish-plates being bolted at their vertical flangesto the abutting end portions of the rails and being bolted at theirhorizontal flanges to the ties in the road-bed, between which horizontalflanges and the ties washers or filling-pieces are inserted, and throughwhich latter the connecting-bolts pass; and the invention furtherconsists of a safety device carried by the car-body, said deviceconsisting of a pair of levers having jaws the inner faces of which areinclined correspondingly with the sides of the rail, while said jaws areconnected together by a suitable link or cross-head and are actuated inany suitable manner by means of aright-and-left screw, which passesthrough the correspondingly-threaded nuts carried by the upper end ofthe levers; and the invention consists of other features of constructionfully described and then claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical transversesection of my improved rack-rail for mountain-railways with the jaws ofthe safety-levers broken 0E and in connection therewith and applied tothe inclined sides of the teeth. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of myimproved rack-rail. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of a modified form ofrack-rail, showing the fish-plates in connection therewith by which theadjacent ends of two rails are secured together. Fig. 4: is a sideelevation of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 1s a side elevation of the safety device,showing the rack-rail in transverse section. Figs. 6 and 6 are planviews of the switch construction used in connection with my improvedrack-rail, respectively showing the normal and shifted position of theswitch-tongues. Fig. 7 is an enlarged transverse section on lines 7 7,Fig. 6.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre sponding parts.

My improved rack-rail A is made with the web and base in the generalform of an ordinary railway-rail, while the head a of the samecorresponds with the head of the ordi nary railway-rail, excepting thatit is toothed and is provided with a peculiar conformation. The objectin so forming the rail is for the purpose of facilitating the rollingand to permit the laying of the same in the same manner as the ordinaryrails are laid.

ct are the teeth, which are arranged equidistantly apart and areseparated by recesses or notches a that are arranged transversely of thelongitudinal axis of the rail.

The rail can be best manufactured by suitable rolls and by dies, saws,or otherwise, by which the recesses a in the head are produced. In thisway the head of the rail forms to some extent the rack-bar proper,inasmuch as the same is toothed. For the sake of simplicity the teeth aof the rail-head are provided at their upper ends with straight sidesparallel with the longitudinal plane of the rail, while the recesses abetween the teeth are formed by means of the adjacent beveled walls a ofthe upper portions of the teeth, which converge toward ovally-enlargedportions of the recesses between the bases of the teeth,whereby therecesses are enlarged at their inner portions, as shown clearly in Figs.2 and 4.

The oval enlargements of the inner portions of the recesses a are madefor the purpose of obtaining a more reliable intermeshing of the teeth,inasmuch as the undercuts formed in the teeth by the ends of the ovalenlargements provide sufficient spaces into which obstructions-such assnow, ice, dirt, &c. may be forced by the teeth intermeshing with theteeth of the rail.

As shown in Figs. 3 and at and also in dotted lines in Fig. 1, thebottoms of the recesses may be inclined downwardly andoutwardly from themedian longitudinal plane a of the rail. This construction is speciallyadapted to those railways in which ice is liable to form an obstructionon the rails, inasmuch as the lateral outward displacement or forcing ofthe ice is reliably accomplished by the teeth of the driving gear-wheel.

The sides of the head a of the rail and of the teeth are inclinedoutwardly and upwardly at a from the base of the head to the lower endsof the flat or straight faces of the teeth, so that the sides of thehead and of the lower portions of the teeth diverge upwardly from thebase of the head. The inclined faces a terminate at points above theedges a of the oval enlargements.

By making the head of the rail of less width at itsv lower part than atits upper partin other words, gradually increasing the size of the headas well as the width of the teeth upwardlya safety device is permittedto be used conjointly with the rail, said safety device being carried bythe car. By the provision of this safety device not only the verticaldisplacement of the car from the rails is prevented, but also a lateraldisplacement or detachment of the driving gear-wheel from the rack-railis prevented, while by the direct application of the jaws of the safetydevice to the head of the rack-rail a brake action is obtained, so thatthe safety device may be used as a brake not only during the ordinarynormal running of the car, but it may be also used as anemergency-brake, for instance, in the event of the breakage of anaxle-that is to say, the safety device can be connected with suitabledevices on the car and be actuated in such a manner that a normal brakeaction, as well as an automatic brake action, in case of an accident isproduced. This safety device is shown fully in Fig. 5 and partially inFig. 1, and consists of levers B, which are fulcrumed to a link or platep and are pivotally connected at their upper ends with screw-nuts 0 0which are provided with pivot-pins 0 that are received in recesses inthe upper ends of the levers, said screw-nuts being oppositelyscrew-threaded and being mounted upon and actuated by a correspondinglyright and left threaded screw-spindle c, which is mounted in anysuitable manner upon the car-body. By the provision of the right andleft threads on the screw-spindle the turning of the spindle is enabledto cause the upper ends of the levers to approach or recede from eachother, while the'lower ends of the levers, or those portions 1) whichform the jaws, are correspondingly actuated, so as to be moved from theinclined side faces a of the head of the rail or toward the same forgripping the rail. Rotary motion is imparted to the spindle either bymeans of a suitable worm-wheel transmission operated by hand, or thespindle is connected with a self-acting device by means of which theautomatic application of the jaws to the rail is produced.

In Figs. 3 and4= fish-plates L, which are L- shaped in cross-section,are shown, the vertical flange of said fish-plates being applied to theabutting ends of two rails and secured thereto by connecting-bolts Z,while the horizontal flanges of the same'are connected to the cross-tiesS by means of connecting-bolts s, which horizontal flanges are separatedfrom the cross-ties by means of washers or fillingpieces 3' interposedbetween the said flanges and the cross-ties.

In Figs. 6 and 6 a switch M is shown, which is so constructed that thesafety device located on the car can be readily passed from thestationary rails to the switch-rails. In my improved switch threeshiftable racktongues 111, m and m are arranged, which tongues areoperated or set simultaneously by means of .a suitable lever system H,which is connected with each of the tongues. The switch is shown in twopositions in said Figs.

6 and 6that is to say, so that the car can pass along the main track orfrom the main track onto the side track-the relative arrangement andlocation of the switch-tongues m m m being readily understood and thedirection of their shifting motion being indicated by arrows in saidfigures. A clear idea of the construction and relative arrangement ofthe main-track rails and the switchtongues is gained from Fig. 7, inwhich it will be seen that the switch-tongue A is of the sameconstruction and conformation as the heads of the rack -rails, saidswitchtongues crossing the main-track rail S in oblique direction. Inthis manner the toothed switch-tongue is supported at a greaterelevation than the track-rails, as in all railways of this kind therack-rails are higher than the track-rails. By cutting off the lowerpart of the switch-tongue at the point where it crosses the track-railit is permitted to bridge the track-rail and thereby permit the drivinggear-wheel to cross the ordinary rails.

A ready passing from the main track onto the switch-track could not beaccomplished with the same facility in the construction heretofore inuse as in the present invention.

The advantages of my improved rack-rail therefore, are, first, that itcan be manufactured with greater facility and with a greater degree ofcheapness as compared with the rack-rails heretofore in use; second,that the laying ofthe rail is facilitated, whereby the IIO expense ofthe construction of such tracks is considerably reduced; third, that ahigh degree of safety is obtained, as the rack-rail permits the use of asafety device; fourth, that there is obtained a considerably greaterdegree of durability, together with comparatively less weight.

The employment of the safety device permits this system to be applied toincreased grades as compared to those rack-rail systems in which thereis a vertical intermeshing of the teeth. The rack-rails can also bereadily bent for curves in either direction and can be connected at therail-joints in the same manner as ordinary track-rails, and as they areconnected to the ties in a simple manner no special devices for layingthe rails other than those required for laying ordinary rails arerequired. The same rail is used for the switches and crossing, exceptingthat the Web and the base are removed, so that thereby the entire systemis simplified and adapted to requirements.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. A rack-rail,having the base and web of an ordinary railway-rail and provided with atoothed head, the head and teeth having inclined flat sides divergingfrom the lower portion of each side of the head, substantially as setforth.

2. A rack-rail, having the base and web of an ordinary railway-rail, andprovided with a toothed head, the teeth of the rail being separated byrecesses, the lower portions of which are enlarged or offset in thedirection of the length of the rail, substantially as set forth.

3. A rack-rail, having the base and web of an ordinary railway-rail, andprovided with a toothed head having inclined opposite sides divergingfrom the bottom of the head upwardly, the teeth of said head beingseparated by recesses, the lower portions of which are radially enlargedin the direction of the length of the rail, substantially as set forth.

4. A rack-rail provided with teeth which are widest transversely of therail and are separated by recesses extending transversely of the rail,said recesses being radially enlarged at their lower ends in thedirection of the length of the rail, substantially as set forth.

5. A rack-rail, the teeth of which are provided with inclined flat sidesdiverging upwardly from the lower part of the head of the rail,substantially as set forth.

6. The combination, with a rack-rail, havin g a toothed head providedwith inclined upwardly-diverging sides, the teeth of said head formingthe upper part thereof, while the recesses between the teeth extendacross the entire width of the head, so that they open at both sides ofthe head, of a safety device provided with jaws with inclined innerfaces, the inclination of said faces corresponding with the inclinationof the sides of the toothed head, and means for actuating the safetydevice for applying or releasing the jaws from the rail, substantiallyas set forth.

7. The combination, with the main track, of a rack-rail provided with apivoted rackrail switch-tongue, said switch-tongue being recessed at itsunder side where it crosses one of the rails of the main track,substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto sign my name, inthe presence of twosubscribing witnesses, this 11th day of December, 1896.

EMIL STRUB.

Witnesses:

I-I. LOCKART, MoRrrz VIETH.

